Although overall household participation in Redbridge's kerbside collection scheme was around 72% in 2007, the council found that this varied greatly across the borough, with the lowest performance in the south, where the highest proportion of BME communities live – mainly consisting of Muslim and Hindu communities.
As a result, the BME Outreach Programme was set up in May 2007, following research which indicated that working with faith groups was the most successful way of accessing BME communities. Such an approach had already proved successful in the London boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets (see letsrecycle.com story).
Through different religious teachings, the council's recycling team communicated links between recycling and looking after the environment in a number of different ways – including workshops involving paper-marking and cloth bag painting, encouraging faith leaders to tailor one of more sermons to an environmental theme and providing promotional literature in different languages.
A key feature of the programme was the involvement of waste and recycling officer Habiba Ahmed, who speaks four Asian languages and was able to help the council overcome the language barrier.
The campaign also included an intensive door-knocking exercise in 2008 which helped contribute to recycling rates rising by 20% in the targeted areas over the period monitored.
In 2007/08, Redbridge recycled more than 22% of its household waste and the authority is recycled more than 26.5% in 2008/09. It is now aiming to recycle 30% in 2010/11.
Sarah Partridge, Redbridge council's recycling promotions and communications officer, said: “We saw a huge increase which was due to the translation we were able to provide. The residents didn't have access to that information before.”
“There are significant issues with language barriers more than anyone thinks and they are relatively easy to overcome. Giving it some effort and getting involved in these communities was seen really positively by them and it cost very little, as we used our own staff and resources.”
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